Top 14 new water parks for 2014

The Midwest water park chain plans to open a $500-million resort with a rapids river, surfing simulator, swim-up bars and other signature attractions found at other Schlitterbahn parks.

The Midwest water park chain plans to open a $500-million resort with a rapids river, surfing simulator, swim-up bars and other signature attractions found at other Schlitterbahn parks. (Schlitterbahn)

A $22-million contract with WhiteWater West will introduce dueling Master Blaster water coasters and an AquaLoop inverted looping slide as well as the Canadian company's Rattler, Python, Boomerango, Abyss and Whizzard slides. The new water park will also include a pair of wave pools, a surfing simulator and a water play structure.

A $22-million contract with WhiteWater West will introduce dueling Master Blaster water coasters and an AquaLoop inverted looping slide as well as the Canadian company's Rattler, Python, Boomerango, Abyss and Whizzard slides. The new water park will also include a pair of wave pools, a surfing simulator and a water play structure. (Lotte World)

It already seems that 2014 is shaping up as a great year for water park fans around the world, as a number of new parks teeming with body slides, wave pools and lazy rivers are planned for the United States, Europe and Asia.

1) Schlitterbahn Corpus Christi (Texas) - The Midwest water park chain plans to open a $500-million resort with a rapids river, surfing simulator, swim-up bars and other signature attractions found at other Schlitterbahn parks.

2) Lotte World (South Korea) - A $22-million contract with WhiteWater West will introduce dueling Master Blaster water coasters and an AquaLoop inverted looping slide as well as the Canadian company's Rattler, Python, Boomerango, Abyss and Whizzard slides.

The new water park also will include a pair of wave pools, a surfing simulator and a water play structure.

3) Atlantis (China) - The newest resort in the water-park-centric hotel chain will include water slides, rapids rides and lazy rivers along with an aquarium.

The Atlantis water parks in Dubai and the Bahamas feature central temple icons with tube slides that pass through sea-life-filled pools.

4) Mt. Olympus (Wisconsin) - The Wisconsin Dells theme park plans to double the size of the 65,000-square-foot Medusa's indoor water park, making it the second largest indoor water park in the United States.

The adjacent Poseidon's outdoor water park features a wave pool that generates 9-foot-tall swells every 90 seconds.

Polin will provide many of the slides, including the world's first Surf Safari with a wave-shaped bowl as well as a mat racer slide with a unique uphill finale.

6) Hawaiian Falls (Texas) - The newest addition to the Hawaiian Falls chain, the $21.5-million water and adventure park in the Austin suburb of Pflugerville will feature tube, body and speed slides along with zip lines, obstacle courses and climbing structures.

7) Plopsaland de Panne (Belgium) - The theme park's new $21.7-million PlopsaAqua indoor water park will feature a theme based on Vickie the Viking, the star of German-Austrian television cartoons and a series of live-action films.

8) Six Flags Over Georgia - The amusement park in the suburbs west of Atlanta plans to add a Hurricane Harbor water park with a Caribbean theme on land currently occupied by the Southern Star Amphitheater.

Six Flags is boasting that the new park will feature a pair of world's first thrill slides.

9) Parque Warner Madrid (Spain) - The $11.5-million water park at the Warner Bros. theme park southeast of the Spanish capital will be themed with Looney Tunes, Flintstones and Scooby-Doo characters.

The water park will be built in two phases, with the wave pools, water playgrounds and lazy river set to open in 2014 and a series of water slides to follow.

10) Corsicana Water and Adventure Park (Texas) - Located about an hour south of Dallas, the new $9-million water park will boast an AquaLoop inverted looping slide, a Python slide by WhiteWater West and a stationary wave machine while the adventure park will include a zip line and other attractions.

11) Great Wolf Lodge (Massachusetts) - The newest addition to the water-park-centric hotel chain will include a wave pool, lazy river and a water play structure.

The centerpiece of the 68,000-square-foot indoor water park will be the Howlin' Tornado funnel slide.

The New England-area hotel also will feature a multilevel ropes course and an interactive magic wand game.

12) Kentucky Kingdom - Plans to reopen the shuttered Louisville amusement park in 2014 call for a doubling in size of the Hurricane Bay water park.

A high-speed adventure river, a six-lane mat racer slide and a wave pool will be among eight new attractions planned for the $10.5-million expansion of the water park.

Hurricane Bay added the Deluge water coaster just before Kentucky Kingdom closed in 2009.

13) Phantasialand (Germany) - Located in the suburbs south of Cologne, the park known for its elaborate thematic environments will add a water park as part of an expansion that includes a 6,000-seat theater and several hotels.

14) Isla Magica (Spain) - The Seville theme park will add a $6.5-million water park with a wave pool and slides.

At first I thought it was too early to look ahead at the new water slides coming in 2014 to water parks around the world, but then I realized a number of big attractions have already been announced and many more are already in the planning stages.

Let's take a closer look at the new water slides planned for water parks around the world in 2014, including some major projects by big industry players and several significant additions by smaller parks. Here is our top 14 for 2014: